IXFORMATION OF INTEREST 315 



Care of Birds and Fish. Caged birds, especially the 

 canary, should always be kept in good cages that are 

 perfectly clean and free from vermin. The greater part 

 of all the cages now used have a hanger at the top of 

 the cage, which can be removed. This should be sepa- 

 rated from the cage at least once every month. Here is 

 where the red .mites hide. The best kind of roosts or 

 perches can be made from the smaller branches of the 

 elder. The outer covering should be scraped and the 

 pith removed from the center of the pieces of elder. 

 The red mites crawl into these perches, which can be 

 scalded once a week with hot water, thus destroying the 

 mites. 



The best seed for canaries is Sicilian canary seed and 

 a little German rape seed. A small portion of hemp seed 

 may be added. Never mix the hemp seed with the other 

 seed; if you do, the birds will throw the other seed out 

 in their diligent search for the hemp seed. Hemp seed 

 is too fattening for them to have much of it. Feed the 

 hemp seed separate. Canaries must have some kind of 

 green feed, and nothing is better for them than a few 

 leaves of dandelion or lettuce. They should never be 

 fed cabbage or heavy greens. 



It is a pleasure to have an aquarium in the house with 

 fish and growing plants. The plants contained in the 

 aquarium should be sufficiently numerous to throw off 

 enough oxygen to supply the fish. The function of plant 

 life in the water is to decompose the carbonic-acid gas 

 under the action of sunlight, using the carbon to build 

 up the structures and to liberate the oxygen which is 

 necessary to the fish. Fish in breathing absorb the free 

 oxygen in the water, and they also absorb it from the 

 air. The proportion of oxygen or of air that water will 

 contain varies with the temperature. Thus, for about 

 every 16 drop in temperature water will take up and 

 retain about double the volume of oxygen or of atmos- 

 pheric air. Boiling the water expels the oxygen. When 

 all of the oxygen is exhausted the water will no longer 

 support the life of the fish. The cooler the water, the 



